Employment procedures revised

“KTH came in for some serious criticism from the UKÄ regarding how the procedure for nominating professors was applied. The Board has taken this matter very seriously, and has therefore taken measures to bring about change and ensure clarity on how the procedure should be applied,” says Pia Sandvik, Chair of the Board.

Regulate career paths

The employment procedures and guidelines on employment procedures are the regulatory documents for career paths and qualification requirements for employing researchers and teachers at KTH.

In the regulations, procedures relating to how professors are nominated have been modified to better reflect Sweden’s Higher Education Ordinance and its preparatory works. The changes entail greater clarity and broader anchorage regarding both who can be nominated for a professorship, and how the recruitment process sholud be carried out.

Clearer rules

“These updated guidelines will make it easy to do the right thing. The new procedures also enable collegial quality assurance. KTH can now continue developing its work on securing skills generally,” says Dean of Faculty Sofia Ritzén, who led the employment procedures review group.

In its statement to the UKÄ, KTH outlines how the updated employment procedures and accompanying guidelines ensure greater anchorage and quality in the process.

KTH President, Anders Söderholm:

“With clearer rules, we can now look forward and build a strong culture that ensures regulatory compliance. We will still be able to nominate professors, but will now do so more restrictively and based on updated regulations.”

The updated employment procedures clarify, among other things, that the procedure for nominating a professor may only be used for people of very high academicprominence internationally, and only if the standard recruitment procedures might obstruct or significantly complicate recruitment. The procedure for nominating a professor may only be used for recruiting someone not already permanently employed at KTH. The procedure should be used restrictively. At an early stage, the KTH management group will assess whether a person is an appropriate nominee for a professorship. The Appointments Board will then take over and assess the candidate’s qualifications, and put together material to enable the President to make a decision.

Text: Jill Klackenberg
Photo: Fredrik Persson